Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century

Kress built a discount chain store based on an economies of scale model. He started offering fewer items than traditional 5- and 10- cent stores, in order to offer bargain prices to a lower-income clientele. Kress’ stores were a great success and he managed to increase sales from $3 million in 1907 to over $40 million by the end of his tenure. In 1924, Kress had over 15,000 employees.